Drinks! 2018

[chord]

A few recent cocktails from my limited, but slowly growing, bar.

 

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Clockwise from top left:

• Negroni
• Income Tax
• Smoky Martini
• Old Pal

 

 

[Craig E]

Mystic Wood
by Kelly Swenson, Ten-01, Portland, OR

• 2 oz Rye
• 1/2 oz Cherry Heering (Tattersall sour cherry)
• 1/2 oz Rothman & Winter apricot
• 2 dashes Angostura

On reading this seemed like an unexceptional Manhattan variant, and both cherry and apricot liqueurs seem hit-or-miss to me in mixed drinks, but I liked this. 

 

[ananth]

Cherry and apricot, wow
Although this ratio seems to give you quite a sweet drink. I think reducing the liqueur a bit would get something more balanced.

[Craig E]

It probably helped that my cherry liqueur sub is quite sour. 

[haresfur]

Raging Bull (Kindred Cocktails):

 

1 oz tequilla (El Ladrón Blue Agave Spirit)

1 oz aquavit (Linnie)

1 oz Averna (Nonino)

5 drops Xocolatl Mole Bitters (tried without, 5 drops and 8 drops - 5 was the sweet spot)

orange twist

 

Stir, strain (build on ice)

 

A less sweet Brave Bull but I'm not sure it is that much better, even with the upscaled tequilla and Nonino. I will have to try the bitters in my next Brave Bull.

 

No photo: imagine something brown in a glass. I really need a lesson in cutting citrus twists.

 

Btw, I haven't been drinking much recently. Maybe someone will take advantage of me...

 

[ananth]

Paper Plane

 

It is supposed to be lemon juice instead of lime but I didn't get some at this moment. The recipe calls for equal parts but I put a little bit more of citrus and it was still too sweet, had to add 2 ice cube in the glass 😅

 

Also, I took the opportunity to try Montenegro neat and wow that was something ! I definitely wasn't expecting this taste 😁 a mix of a more conventional maro and some chemical soda but it was actually quite good haha

 

 

[ananth]

well, it seems that I did not use the proper amaro once again  (it is Difford's fault this time 😝)

 

Sam Ross's recipe calls for ' Nonino Quintessentia amaro ' which I guess should be less sweet than montenegro

[Craig E]

Overhead light in my bar is on the fritz but I didn't let that deter me. 

Tried Panic Button
by Dewberry Hotel, Charleston, SC

• 1 1/2 oz Bourbon
• 3/4 oz Averna
• 1/2 oz Campari
• 1/2 oz Cherry Heering (Tattersall Sour Cherry)
• 1/4 oz Lemon juice
• 1 twst Lemon peel (Expressed)

The recipe calls for a small ice ball in the coupe as a "garnish," which seems gimmicky but I dutifully executed.

 

The result: I got a strong Angostura bitters flavor from this: the woody, cherry, clovey, bitter flavors that I know and like from Ango-heavy drinks like the Trinidad Sour came immediately to mind. 

[damaaster]

For “Old Fashioned Week” I decided I wanted to try and create my own version of the classic drink.  I needed some inspiration….

I’ve always looked up to my older cousin. He is now a Canadian Diplomat and an all around amazing guy (even though he once traded me a worthless Pat Falloon hockey card for my Paul Kariya rookie card).
I have since forgiven him, and decided to make a drink in his honor.

I wanted to make a drink that resembled him as close as possible so here it goes:
 

2 Oz DIPLOMATico Rhum
.25 oz Pure Canadian Maple Sugar
A few drops of Manitoba Made Law Abiding Aromatic Bitters
Topped with an orange twist

Stirred on ice, and strained into an old fashioned glass over a large ice ball. Finished with an orange twist.

My cousin is also known for always wearing formal clothing, ties, suits, etc -even to non formal events…so I decided to stage one photo for him as well(see images)

Full Recipe & Others Here

 

[Kerry Beal]

48 minutes ago, damaaster said:

For “Old Fashioned Week” I decided I wanted to try and create my own version of the classic drink.  I needed some inspiration….

I’ve always looked up to my older cousin. He is now a Canadian Diplomat and an all around amazing guy (even though he once traded me a worthless Pat Falloon hockey card for my Paul Kariya rookie card).
I have since forgiven him, and decided to make a drink in his honor.

I wanted to make a drink that resembled him as close as possible so here it goes:
 

2 Oz DIPLOMATico Rhum
.25 oz Pure Canadian Maple Sugar
A few drops of Manitoba Made Law Abiding Aromatic Bitters
Topped with an orange twist

Stirred on ice, and strained into an old fashioned glass over a large ice ball. Finished with an orange twist.

My cousin is also known for always wearing formal clothing, ties, suits, etc -even to non formal events…so I decided to stage one photo for him as well(see images)

Full Recipe & Others Here

 

I can see you have totally forgiven him!

[Craig E]

Stumbled across the recipe for the Kal Katz, a 1932 recipe from Havana that traveled via Tom Sandham's book and Frederic Yarm's blog to @Rafa's post on Kindred Cocktails. An unpredictable mix of ingredients:

• 1 oz light rum
• 1 oz dry vermouth
• 1 oz pineapple juice
• dash creme de menthe
• dash maraschino

Clean and open, with flavors playing together well. Would no doubt be still better with a higher quality creme de menthe than what I have in stock. Likably interesting.

[brinza]

On 11/9/2018 at 2:15 PM, damaaster said:

For “Old Fashioned Week” I decided I wanted to try and create my own version of the classic drink.  I needed some inspiration….

I’ve always looked up to my older cousin. He is now a Canadian Diplomat and an all around amazing guy (even though he once traded me a worthless Pat Falloon hockey card for my Paul Kariya rookie card).
I have since forgiven him, and decided to make a drink in his honor.

I wanted to make a drink that resembled him as close as possible so here it goes:
 

2 Oz DIPLOMATico Rhum
.25 oz Pure Canadian Maple Sugar
A few drops of Manitoba Made Law Abiding Aromatic Bitters
Topped with an orange twist

Stirred on ice, and strained into an old fashioned glass over a large ice ball. Finished with an orange twist.

My cousin is also known for always wearing formal clothing, ties, suits, etc -even to non formal events…so I decided to stage one photo for him as well(see images)

Full Recipe & Others Here

 

Hard to go wrong with that rum!  That stuff is wonderful.  Sounds likes a great recipe, and nice photos, too!

[damaaster]

On 11/30/2018 at 9:25 AM, brinza said:

Hard to go wrong with that rum!  That stuff is wonderful.  Sounds likes a great recipe, and nice photos, too!

 

No Doubt...I've been buying Diplomatico for a couple years now - its my go to rum - for rum old fashioned's...but mostly just as a nice sipper. So good.

[blue_dolphin]

I have been enjoying the baharat/spice mixture from Alon Shaya's cookbook, Shaya and decided to make a Baharat Old Fashioned, following Dave Arnold's Cliff Old Fashioned from Liquid Intelligence that uses a coriander simple syrup as the sweetener.  

2 oz bourbon + 3/8 oz baharat syrup.  Orange twist. Delicious!

 

The baharat contains:

6 T whole allspice berries

1 t black peppercorns

1/4 t whole cumin seeds

48 cardamom pods

28 whole cloves

2 dried rosebuds

2 T ground cinnamon

2 t Aleppo pepper

1 1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg

 

The baharat syrup was 25 g baharat + 110 g water + 100 g sugar + 2 g Aleppo pepper warmed to dissolve, then filtered. 

 

[damaaster]

I think this one may be the prettiest drink I've made so far.  It was delicious too - and went down easy (for 3 oz of bourbon).

Maraschino Sour.

3 oz Buffalo Trace

1 oz Maraschino Syrup

1 oz Lemon Juice

.75 oz Egg White

 

The foam from the egg white really came out great on this one for me - I gave it a few more shakes than normal!

[teapot]

Very pretty!  Is there a maraschino syrup you recommend?

[damaaster]

15 hours ago, teapot said:

Very pretty!  Is there a maraschino syrup you recommend?

This was just using the generic crap from the supermarket..

I've heard Luxardo are the gold standard - unfortunately I can't get them where I live (though I am considering ordering some). 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I use Luxardo and the syrup is indeed worthy.

 

[Craig E]

Two new-to-me tipples that I enjoyed last week. Both of these really brought out the best of these ingredients, many of which are personal favorites.

 

Flying Dutchman (Jardinière)
by Brian MacGregor, Jardinière, San Francisco, CA.

• 1 1/2 oz Genever, Bols (Boomsma)
• 3/4 oz Bénédictine
• 3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse (Strega)
• 3/4 oz Lemon juice

Shake, strain, up.

 

Nice complexity and groundedness. My wife and I were trying to put our finger on this pleasant underlying flavor, and the best we could do was to say it was like a smoky flavor but without the smoke. 

 

 

Duplex (no pic)
by DavisSqPro, chowhound

• 2 oz Punt e Mes
• 2 oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano)
• 2 ds Orange bitters

Stir, strain, wine glass, lemon twist.

 

This finishes a little syrupy as I'd feared, but the flavors are delightful—bubblegum, dates, herbs. That sounds kind of gross when I say it out loud but I really liked it. 

Edited February 10, 2019 by Craig E (log)

[Craig E]

A colleague of mine challenged me to invent something new based on a name she thought would be great: Stink Eye.

 

I though something that had a late-arriving and persisting bitterness would be appropriate. The quasi-medicinal, "this is good for you" aspect of fernet seemed like a good vehicle to include. Layered that bitterness with some from Cynar, from Punt e Mes, and from black walnut bitters, on a more-or-less Manhattany template, choosing an agreeable bourbon as the base spirit. Brightened with some lemon oil. 

 

So: stir 2 oz. Knob Creek bourbon, 3/4 oz Punt e Mes, 1/4 ea. Cynar and Fernet Branca, dash walnut bitters, strain and serve up with a lemon peel expressed and discarded. 

 

I think the ratios seemed right on out of the gate! Worked just like I'd hoped: smooth but spirituous and somewhat sweet sip, fading out, then a rapid fade-in of nutty, herby, and bitter finger-wagging. 

 

 

 

EDIT: @EvergreenDan asked about subs for fernet-averse drinkers, and one of my suggestions was Vecchio Amaro del Capo. He said that worked well and I tried it and agreed! That variant I'm calling a Side Eye.

Edited February 15, 2019 by Craig E
described a follow up riff (log)

[Tri2Cook]

The Mustache Ride … and I did make the spiced maple simple syrup called for despite the suggestion that it may not be worth the bother. The suggestion was that it may not stand up against the allspice liqueur but I don't know how my homemade allspice liqueur stands up against the commercial stuff so I just went all-in with the recipe and did everything. It calls for Bulleit bourbon which I don't have so Maker's had to do. Refreshing,  kinda like a grownup spiced lemonade. Goes down really easy (Perhaps the inspiration for the name? ), I was surprised at how quickly I was looking sadly at the bottom of the empty glass. A big pitcher of it on a hot summer day could lead to trouble.

[Craig E]

As a follow-up to the Stink Eye and Side Eye (2 posts up), may I present the Pink Eye.

• 2 oz gin
• 3/4 oz Punt e Mes
• 1/4 oz Campari
• 1/4 oz Amere Sauvage
• 1/2 oz half & half
• 1/2 oz cherry shrub
• Peychaud's bitters float

Again here, the name and concept came first. So what would have the look and flavor impression of conjunctivitis, but still be a good drink? 😄

This took a few iterations. The eyeball-like opacity comes from half-and-half, the initial sharpness from gin and, faintly, the vinegar of the shrub, fruitiness in the middle from the cherry and the Punt e Mes, some challenge in the finish from Campari and gentian liqueur. Peychaud's on top adds some anise-y nose but more importantly gives the broken blood vessel look. An ice sphere is conceptually indispensable. 

 

 

[haresfur]

maybe a good Halloween drink 

[Okanagancook]

Tonight we had Red Lions from The Craft of The Cocktail

 

1 Oz each Gin and Grand Mariner 

1/2 Oz each fresh lemon and orange juice

flamed orange peel

 

dangerously delicious

Edited March 10, 2019 by Okanagancook
Correct recipe (log)

[lindag]

20 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Tonight we had Red Lions from The Craft of The Cocktail

 

1 Oz each Gin and Grand Mariner 

1/2 Oz each fresh lemon and orange juice

flamed orange peel

 

dangerously delicious

 

I’ll have to try that.